Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factor Improves with Vitamin B12

According to a recent study, vitamin B12 deficiency is associated with an increase in levels of homocysteine, an abnormal amino acid metabolite found in the blood. Elevated blood levels of homocysteine have been associated with an increased risk of developing coronary heart disease, stroke and peripheral vascular disease. The American Academy of Family Physicians reports that at least 15 percent of adults age 65 years and older have laboratory testing evidence of vitamin B12 deficiency, and the actual prevalence may even be higher than these statistics indicate.

In this new randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study, researchers evaluated the effect of oral supplementation of vitamin B12 and folic acid on homocysteine levels on 300 individuals from 119 families enrolled in the Pune Maternal Nutrition Study. The subjects received either 2 or 10 mcg of vitamin B12, with or without 200 mcg of folic acid. The control group received no supplementation. Plasma homocysteine levels were measured at the beginning of the study and after 4 and 12 months of supplementation.

After 12 months of supplementation, the data showed that the subjects receiving 2 mcg per day of vitamin B12 had an average reduction in homocysteine levels by 5.9 mumol/l and the subjects receiving 10 mcg per day of vitamin B12 showed an average decline in plasma homocysteine levels of 7.1 mumol/L. There was a non-significant increase in homocysteine levels of 1.2 mumol/L in the control group. In the subjects that were supplemented with folic acid, there was an average decrease in homocysteine of 4.8 mumol/L in the subjects receiving 200 mcg per day, compared to a decline of 2.8 mumol/L in the subjects not taking folic acid.

The researchers stated, “Daily oral supplementation with physiological doses of B12 is an effective community intervention to reduce total homocysteine.”

Reference:

Deshmukh US, Joglekar CV, Lubree HG, Ramdas LV, Bhat DS, Naik SS, Hardikar PS, Raut DA, Konde TB, Wills AK, Jackson AA, Refsum H, Nanivadekar AS, Fall CH, Yajnik CS. Effect of physiological doses of oral vitamin B(12) on plasma homocysteine: a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial in India. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2010 Mar 10. Published Online Ahead of Print.